History, Part II

In a previous post I highlighted the causes behind the high rate of parent-less children in Russia today. I wrote that the main factors contributing to this issue were Soviet family policy, wars, forced collectivization, and starvation. Now for some more background on how family policy evolved, especially in the early Stalin years.

By the beginning of the 1930s, the Soviet Union's leaders could see that its family policy was having an undesirable effect on the country's social fabric. It was especially disturbing to the government because of the need for young people to fulfill demands for military service and industrial jobs. A campaign of propaganda promoting family values and familial stability was begun that labeled the former policy of easy divorces as "free love," which they considered to be a "bourgeois invention."

The Soviet government began a retrenchment in reaction to its previous policies. In 1936, abortion became illegal in most cases. A government program to build childcare facilities was put into effect. Wedding ceremonies were turned into more solemn occasions. Beginning in 1944, a divorce could only be granted after a court hearing. And inheritance law was reformed so that children could inherit an apartment, a dacha, or other property from his or her parents. The notion of an "illegitimate" child was brought back through a policy that made such inheritance impossible if a child was born to an unregistered marriage. So, in effect, the bourgeois model of the family was restored and by implication, the model of the Marxist family was shown to be untenable in reality.

But, that was then and this is now. More to come.